(1) Field of the Invention
This invention refers to devices for the support and group transport of receptacles, as well as the cardboard or pasteboard sheets for forming and reinforcing the devices.
The invention is intended to overcome the drawbacks or inconveniences that hitherto known devices have for the transport in groups of receptacles, especially receptacles of a cylindrical or slightly truncated-cone shaped opening, provided with a flange or shoulder, a specific example of application being currently known soft drink jars or cans.
(2) State of the Prior Art
In accordance with the state of the art, these types of support device are formed of bands or layers, in cardboard or plastic, in which openings are provided with flanges or radial projections for retention and into which are introduced the receptacles to be supported, which remain with their upper base or mouth exposed to the outside. Another well known form is that comprised of a plurality of flexible plastic rings which surround the opening of the receptacles, making several ways of grouping possible. Such devices thus incorporate two main deficiencies or inconveniences. One is of a hygienic nature, since the spilling or direct ingestion of the contents of the receptacles becomes more frequent every day, and it is not desirable that the dirt resulting from their being exposed during storage and transport accumulate in the mouths or caps of the receptacles. Another drawback is of an economic or commercial nature, in particular in relation to the use, more extensive every day, of a loading and control system called the bar code, reading of which is impossible with the supports presently known, especially if the receptacles are arranged in adjacent rows, unless it is done separately and with great difficulty in handling for each one of the receptacles, but never for the whole supported lot.
Another shortcoming of the known devices lies in the general lack of rigidity for a comfortable and uniform handling and transport of the lot of receptacles supported, unless they are very light. For example, they are not adequate for the typical jars or cans of soft drinks, in which a group of three units already attains a weight of about one kilogram. This limitation has been solved, for example, by means of basket devices, which involve an increased cost of the device and difficulties in its mechanical filling and reinforcing, or else by means of the presence of additional areas of adhesive which give cohesion to the whole, which means the presence of a more or less persistent or undesirable substance in the receptacle, in particular in the area of the opening. Also use of materials of greater rigidity has been resorted to, specifically plastics, giving rise to devices in which the receptacles are difficult to extract and, above all, generate ecologically unacceptable residues.
An additional drawback lies in the difficulty or impossibility of the known devices being provided with handles for transport without thereby substantially complicating their structure or the amount of material utilized.